A Martian (Carroll O'Connor) assists his boss Martian (Barry Morse) in calculating time and the universe by using an extraterrestial "device" that we know better to be an adjustable triangle. From the first season episode of The Outer Limits (1964). The show was constantly battling shrinking network budgets, and necessity is the mother of invention!

Apparently using no art supplies except for an H-frame studio easel and a small brush, artist David Stuart (Lon Chaney) creates a remarkable likeness of model Tanya Czoraki (Acquanetta) in Dead Man's Eyes (1944) -- the third entry in Universal's Inner Sanctum series. Say, whatever became of all those great paintings seen in so many classic films from back then?

A scene from "The Alibi Witness," a 1958 episode of M Squad, one of TV's greatest cop shows of the '50s. Chicago Det. Lt. Frank Ballinger (Lee Marvin) carefully examines a damning piece of murder case evidence: a wooden t-square! Meanwhile, his deadpan voice-over narration explains, "The unlocked door... the money packed in a bag... blood on a broken t-square. The man had been dead for days."

Frontier illustrator hunk Jonathan Adams (Scott Brady), takes on an assignment by a Massachusetts society to paint "frontier scenes" in the 1956 20th Century-Fox film "Mohawk." He seems to have no problem painting a portrait of Mohawk Chief Kowanen (Ted de Corsia) and the missus that coincidentally looks exactly like a photograph -- in spite of no art supplies at all, except for a rather crude frontier taboret and his trusty No. 12 frontier chisel brush.

He has a hot time with his new-found artist's model, Greta Jones (Allison Hayes) while fooling around with the Chief's daughter, Onida (Rita Gam), until fiancee Cynthia Stanhope (Lori Nelson) arrives from the east and ruins all his fun. Man, you can't turn your back on an illustrator for a minute!

Bachelor comic strip artist Stanley Ford (Jack Lemmon) is torn between a life of drawing boards and white Luxo lamps, and his accidental surprise wife played by Virna Lisi in the 1965 farce "How to Murder Your Wife." His comic strip Bash Brannigan, Secret Agent was actually drawn for the movie by Mel Keefer, a long-time veteran of TV animated cartoons such as The Jetsons and Jonny Quest.

Wondering if he made a big mistake marrying the winner (Diana Dors) of the Miss Luxembourg Beer contest in the 1958 film "I Married a Woman," advertising AD Marshall Briggs (George Gobel) applies pencil and classic wooden t-square to his newest billboard comp. In the '50s, it seems like an artist's art supplies always included an ashtray for some reason. Later in the story, Briggs discovers all of the former Miss Luxembourgs are married now, and hits on an idea to crown a Mrs. Luxembourg... only to find out that they're all fat from drinking too much Luxembourg Beer.

Photo from The It's a Wonderful Life Book by Jeanine Basinger, Alfred A. Knopf, 1986.

Frank Capra (right), legendary director of such classic films as It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), discusses a scene from It's a Wonderful Life (1946), while showing his storyboards done on Hurlock Super Royal 85 illustration board. The Hurlock Brothers Company is still in the art supply business in Philadelphia, although they no longer make illustration board. Hollywood really dressed sharp in those days!